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Cascadian Civil War
The Cascadian Civil War is an ongoing armed conflict and civil war fought between the ruling capitalist government of Cascadia and home grown communist movements and factions and their allies in the New Comintern Pact seeking the abolition of Cascadia's capitalist leaders. The civil war began in the winter of 2284 when anarchist, communist and trade unionists rose up in New Victoria in response to worsening working conditions and conscription laws forcing many to fight on the frontlines against Caesar's Legion. When the military violently supressed the protests, New Victoria fell to uprising and many left-leaning Cascadians rose up and joined the New Comintern and began fighting their capitalist rulers. The conflict has yet to be concluded, although the New California Republic managed to convince leaders of both factions to negotiate a possible end to the war. Background Leftist groups and individuals had existed within Cascadia's borders ever since the republic was established in 2198. Chancellor Edgar Renou himself was a socialist and was Cascadia's first socialist chancellor showing how leftist elements were initially tolerated during the republic's early years. This however changed following the ascension of the New Prosperity Party, a right wing capitalist politicap party, to power in 2278 during the year's parliamentary elections which began cracking down on leftist elements in Cascadia. During the Cascadian Campaign, the government instituted conscription and began using it during the later half against Caesar's Legion when laying siege to Seattle and attacking Legion holdings in Willamette Valley and these laws mainly affected poor and working class Cascadians. By 2280, the party leader, Jerome Benett, had taken over as Chancellor of Cascadia and instituted new policies based around pre-war capitalist ones in the United States of America, further increasing tensions. New Victoria Uprising The Cascadian Civil War would begin on Janurary 14th, 2284 when thousands of miners, workers, and other citizens of the Cascadian capitol city of New Victoria staged a general strike in the city protesting against poor working conditions, stagnating wages, and military conscription which unfairly targeted poor and working class citizens. Chancellor Jerome Bennett ordered that the Cascadian Military Police crack down on the strikers and have them all arrested, but a gunshot went off and it killed one of the strikers which caused the rest to charge at the police and within hours, the strikers siezed weapons and many the police station and used loudspeakers to rally more to their cause. Soon, New Victoria was in uproar and the city was turned into a warzone as dozens of buildings were captured and the Parliament Building was being laid siege to along with the Chancellor's Building. The Cascadian Army was called in to supress the uprising, but it took over a month and a half before the uprising was quelled and it left hundreds dead and thousands more both captured and injured. In response, the People's Front for Cascadia revealed their existance and managed to stage multiple different uprisings in southern Cascadia and captured dozens of towns and even a few cities. The New Comintern Pact soon invaded Cascadia as well and the Cascadian Civil War had effectively begun. General Secretary John Hussain of the New Comintern Pact justified the intervention claiming that the capitalist rulers of Cascadia had "violated the rights of the working men and proleariats of the Republic of Cascadia" and that the intervention was for the "liberation of Cascadia's working people". Before long, Cascadian communist partisans and rebels had rose up and took over large parts of Southeastern Cascadia, including various parts of the country's southmost territories in former Washington State. The territories that were taken by the communist forces united as the People's Front for Cascadia and they helped lead to the establishment of the Provisional State of Cascadia in the occupied territories and it was to be protected by the 3rd and 7th Volunteer Brigades from the New Comintern Pact's International People's Volunteer Army. Comintern Intervention On July 2nd, 2284, the New Comintern Pact interveined in the civil war and deployed their forces from the Northwestern Front and the Alberta Front in what would be known as the July Offensive. The offensive ordered the armeis of both fronts to march into territories under the Provisional State's control befor they were overrun by the Cascadian Army durign their encirclement campaigns. The July Offensive was split into two phases with the first phase being carried out by the Alberta Front and the second one by the Northwestern Front. The first phase lasted from July 2nd to the 7th and ended with Comintern forces capturing the towns and cities of Wilmer, Kimberly and Kalispell. Sandpoint was attacked by the Comintern forces, but Cascadian troops held their ground and the battle ended in a stalemate. The second phase was carried out by the Northwestern Front and they drove into eastern and central regions of Cascadia with Dawson Creek, Kelly Lake, and Valemount all being captured. Communist partisans met up with the Comintern forces and were integrated into their military and took part in the Battle of Nelson, but it ended in a Cascadian victory and another one was achieved on July 27th at Blue Lake. Summer and Autumn Campaigns Cascadian Counter-Offensives Comintern Push in the Center Winter Campaigns and Armistice Comintern Southern Offensives Main Artile: Columbia River Campaign By early 2285, the New Comintern Pact had fresh reserves and reinforcements brought in and prepared for an offensive on the southern front. Since the bulk of the fighting was done in Northern and Central Cascadia, the republic's southern provicnes were lightly defended as many units from the Southern Army Group were redeployed to the north to reinforce Fort Nelson. Wanting to sieze control over the Columbia River, the Comintern's Central Military Command ordered the formation of a new front, the Southern Front, and placed General Wayne Mccullough as its commander. Trench Warfare and Stalemate Peace Process and Negotiations Peace talks between the New Comintern Pact and Cascadia had been debated, but officially began on October 29th, 2284 with the signing of the Autumn Ceasefire Agreement, also known as the Autumn Ceasfire at the end of the Red October Offensive. The ceasefire was agreed upon after both Comintern and Cascadian forces were exhausted and overstretched their lines resulting the offensive being bogged down and trench warfare to develop and grow across the Cascadian frontier. The agreement to a ceasefire and negotations were overseen by the NCR who helped form the Cascadian Peace Committee to end the war and the Autumn Ceasefire was the first major achievement of the committee. While the agreement passed, further negotiations would stall until Janaury of 2285 when Cascadian and Comintern leaders gathered once more to negotiate a possible truce. The truce didn't materialize, but they agreed to the signing of the Winter Armistice Agreement by the 6th of January. Negotiations continue to take place, but a functioning ceasefire and official end to the war is yet to materialize. Outside Involvement Due to the nature of the conflict and the interests of the combatants in Cascadia being shared by those beyond its borders, the Cascadian Civil War drew in attention from its neighbors once the war began. News agencies and reporters that existed sent war photographers up north to cover the story of the conflict and both soldiers and volunteers were sent to Cascadia to aid the warring sides. Cascadia's neighbors would support them with volunteers and expeditionary forces while the Comintern was proped up by distant but still reliable pro-socialist states sympathetic to them in both former Canada and across the Pacific in former Russia. Pro-Cascadian Forces *'Alaskan Volunteer Forces' - An all volunteer army from the Federation of Alaska serving as an expeditionary force to support the Cascadian Army in their fight against the New Comintern Pact. Mostly stationed up north in the Yukon regions and saw heavt action during the winter of 2284-2285 against the Comintern Red Army. *'White Russian Volunteer Brigade' - A volunteer force of soldiers from the colony of New Russia in Yukon, the force is comprised of ethnic Russian anti-communist forces who volunteered to fight off the Comintern Forces due to memories of their exile from Russia by the socialist troops of the Far Eastern Republic during the War in the East. *'New California Volunteer Army' - Volunteers of both civilians and former soldiers from the NCR who enlisted in the force to fight against the New Comintern Pact once Washington State was breached. The volunteers are attatched to the Cascadian 14th Infantry Regiment and have been deployed in Southern Cascadia. *'New Canadian Expeditionary Force' - An expeditionary force sent by New Canada to support Cascadia once news of the People's Republic of Canada getting involved broke out. Their attatched to the Cascadian 8th Army Corps and were first deployed during Red October Offensive in October of 2284. Pro-Comintern Forces *'Canadian People's Volunteer Army '- An expeditionary force deployed to Cascadia by the People's Republic of Canada to support the New Comintern Pact. The CPVA is attatched to the 11th Volunteer Brigade and is famous for their ski troops, the latter of which saw heavy action and success during the Winter Campaign of 2284-2285. *'Eastern Volunteer Army' - An expeditionary force sent by the Far Eastern Republic to support the Comintern Forces and first arrived in September of 2284 for the Second Battle of the Yukon where they managed to fight off the Cascadian Army and Alaskan 1st Volunteer Army during the campaign. Officially however, they're a civilian volunteer force and are not part of the Far Eastern Army. *'Commonwealth Army Group' - Volunteers entirely from the Commonwealth and other nearby regions in the former United States first formed after peace talks between the Midwest Confederation and Comintern Pact were successful in August of 2284. First arrived in October of 2284 and have been in active service since the Red October Offensive. *'Midwest People's Brigade' - An all volunteer military force of citizens from the Midwest Confederation who joined the New Comintern Pact due to border clashes between Cascadian and Midwest forces. While accidental, they were enough to cause the brigades to form and were first sent in July of 2284 to take part in defensive operations during Operation: Summer Storm by Cascadia. NCR Involvement The New California Republic officially delcared neutrality in the war once the fighting began in January of 2284 as a means of maintaining friendly and stable relations with Cascadia. Once the New Comintern Pact had interviened and went on the offensive to support the communist forces, the intervention was condemned by the NCR, but the senate voted against direct military intervention due to the ongoing war against the Legion and NCR forces would be spread thin getting involved in Cascadia. Despite this, material aid in the form of weapons and tanks was sent to Cascadia in the form of the Material Aid Department of the NCR Supply Corps in a program similar to the Lend-Lease Act from World War II. Citizens and former soldiers from the NCR however would form the New California Volunteer Army and traveled to Cascadia to aid them in the fight against the New Comintern Pact out of comitment for Cascadia and the friendly NCR-Cascadian relations. The NCR volunteers were allowed to travel and would be attatched to the Cascadian 1st Infantry Regiment in the form of the "Volunteer Squadrons" and later the 1st Volunteer Army Brigade made up of both NCR and New Canadian volunteers. Direct NCR intervention would remain a constant issue throughout the war as the Congress was in a deadlock between the pro-neutrality bloc, the Neutral Bloc, and the intervention bloc, the Nationalist Bloc. The latter believed that the NCR should intervene to support Cascadia since they've been an ally of the republic for years since they first discovered each other, but the Neutral Bloc cited NCR troops all cross the Midwest and former Southern United States and how they'd spread themselves thin and strain the Supply Corps if they do. The Neutrality Bloc would retain their majority in the senate, but public opinion was severly divided and the Nationalist Bloc made the Neutral Bloc's dominance in the government difficult to maintain. In February of 2285, the NCR managed to convince Cascadia and the New Comintern Pact to begin peace talks and they met in Seattle for the first round of peace talks. While they would end in a stalemate, the talks would continue and ceasefires were implemented throughout the winter of 2285. The NCR's neutrality in the war officially ended after NCR border outposts were shelled by Comintern forces and IPRA forces conducted multiple incursions into NCR territory in the south. The attacks occured during the Columbia River Campaign and the NCR responded by sending a division of 3,000 men, 200 fighting vehicles, and 300 horses to aid in the fight against the Comintern's Southern Front. After the campaign had ended, the NCR sent another division, but would escalate its involvement in 2287 long after the Legion lost the bulk of its territory and was defeated in the Mexico and much of the Midwest freeing up thousands of NCR troops and material. Coverage in the Press Nations like the Federation of Alaska, New California Republic, and the New Comintern Pact managed to have news agencies and networks due to their resources and ability to do so and journalists and reporters were sent into Cascadia to cover the conflict. NCR war reporters were stationed within Cascadian controlled territories and managed to get interviews with Cascadian soldiers and officers of the war during the conflict. During the Christmas Offensive of 2284, NCR journalists and war reporters, Samantha Heartwell and Robert James Creek, managed to get the "scoop of the decade" when they were stuck inside Fort Nelson during the siege and broadcasted live footage of the fighting during the Siege of Fort Nelson, including heavy fighting between Cascadian and Comintern Forces. They were sent to New Victoria after the siege and were awarded the Branch of the Republic, the highest civilian decoration of Cascadia, for their exceptional and couragous coverage of the siege. Another notable journalist coveirng the event was the young 21 year old Piper Wright from the Commonwealth who took the opportunity to cover the war and snuck her way into Cascadia. She managed to get coverage and news stories about the Cascadian Civil War and took footage and pictures of events during the autumn and winter of 2284 during the Red October Offensive and later the Christmas Offensive. She was later captured on February 8th, 2285 during the Second Battle of the Yukon in Fort Liard by the Comintern's 14th Army, mainly the 22nd Rifle Corps, after the Cascadian barracks were overrun and taken. Piper was notably annoying towards the Comintern forces and would be gagged and covered with a sack when she was captured. Piper would later return to the Commonwealth on March 13th, 2285 during the 2285 Spring Ceasefire where journalists and POWs were freed to pause fighting in the war. Effects on Cascadia The Cascadian Civil War has come down as the most destructive conflict in all of Cascadia's history surpassing the destruction left behind by the Legion during the Cascadian Campaign. Many settlements have been destroyed in bombing runs and insurgent attacks by communist partisans and towns and cities have sustained heavy damage as a result of the various battles and campaigns of the war. The scale of the destruction was also increased in August of 2284 where the Cascadian Army attempted to eliminate the Comintern forces by invading their territory only to have the operation fail and the Cascadian Army was pushed back. After being forced to retreat, settlements and towns in neighboring Alberta sustained heavy damage and was used to drive up pro-war sentiment in the New Comintern Pact and its territories. Civilian casualties are within the tens of thousands dead and hundreds of thousands wounded and at least 40,000 Cascadians have been displaced due to the fighting and many have either enlisted, coerced into enlisting or drafted into the Cascadian Army as a means of bolstering depleted ranks. Refugee Crisis in Cascadia The fighting in eastern Cascadia has displaced thousands of civilians forcing them to migrate deeper into Cascadia to escape the trenches and fornt lines of the conflict. Desperate to resettle the refugees and keep the war effort up, the Cascadian government constructed new settelements within the western regions and even Cascadia's northern territories in the Yukon. Tens of thousands of Cascadian refugees remained in their country, but some would make daring and risky moves to escape with many fleeing down south towards the New California Republic or up north to the Federation of Alaska and New Russia. The NCR, due to the nation not officially involved in the war, managed to properly handle the crisis and resetteled many refugees and those wanting to fight were trained and sent back north to Cascadia via NCR-Cascadian railways. It was a different story in Alaska where Alaskan authorities, still bitter over the Northern Frontier War and the subsequent loss of land to Cascadia, treated the refugees harshly and kept them contained in "refugee settlements" within rural Alaska. New Russia, an enclave and sovereign state in western Alaska, took many of the refugees in, but it was in small numbers due to New Russia's small territorial size. In September of 2284, the Alaskan President, Alexander Hayes, passed Executive Order No. 774 permiting Cascadian refugees to be granted temporary settlement in Alaska if they take up military service and enlist in the Alaskan Volunteer Forces. In exchange, the families of the volunteers would be moved into Alaska and away from the frontlines and harsh conditions. Famine and Food Shortages During the failed Alberta Campaign, commonly known as the Battles of the Eastern Frontier, the Cascadian Army instigated scorched earth tactics during their retreat with the most infamous incident being the Sacking of Alberta Park where the farming communities and settlements were ransacked by the 6th Mechanized Corps of the Cascadian Army as a means of getting food. As a result, food prices have gone up in Comintern territories as a result of the event, but the primary cause is due to food supplies being devouted to the war effort. Cascadia suffers from the same issue as Chancellor Bennett has ordered food supplies be given out to Cascadian soldiers and has resulted in high food prices in Cascadia with some cities having prices higher than those in the Comintern republics. Due to the Chancellor's demands to support the war, farming and agriculture has been focused towards the military resulting in a small famine in Cascadian lands in Washington State and Oregeon. Usage of Child Soldiers Officially, the legal age for both enlistment and conscription is 18 and 19 for those who've completed higher education. Despite this however, there have been numerous reports of child soldiers being allowed to enlist and have even been conscripted into the ranks of the Cascadian Army during the war. Accounts show them as part of auxiliary and second line units, but some have been sent to front line combat. News spread fast following the capture of Jacob Holms, a child who was drafted into the Cascadian Army at the age of 13 and was captured when he turned 15 during the Christmas Offensive. Comintern forces have also been reported to use child soldiers and have served similar roles to their Cascadian counterparts as well. Many have been given medals for engaging Cascadian forces in frontline combat. Category:Wars Category:Events